Qantas now flies from Sydney and Melbourne to Delhi
The two new routes tap into Australia's large Indian expat community as well as the trade and investment market.
By David Flynn, December 22 2021
Qantas now connects both Sydney and Melbourne to Delhi, with the first Melbourne-Delhi service taking wing today as the airline revs up its return to international skies.
Although the flights from Delhi to Sydney and Melbourne are non-stop, the Sydney-Delhi and Melbourne-Delhi legs ‘initially’ include a stopover at Adelaide for the Airbus A330, which has 28 lie-flat business class seats and 269 economy seats.
Tickets on both flights have been among the airline’s fastest-selling, with passengers heading to India to reunite with their families and loved ones.
“Usually it takes 12 months to sell out flights on a new international route, but these flights sold out in a few hours,” said Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David.
“With a big Indian expat community and growing trade and investment ties, India is going to be an incredibly important market for the Flying Kangaroo as international travel recovers.”
Doubling down on Delhi
Sydney-Delhi QF67 flights began on December 6 at an initial three days per week – Monday, Thursday and Saturday – departing Sydney at 6.05am for a 3.35pm touchdown in Delhi.
The QF68 return leg leaves Delhi at 6pm and heads straight to Sydney to land at 11.45am the following day.
Qantas plans to boost the Sydney-Delhi route to a daily service from January 3, although the airline maintains the flights will "initially operate until at least late March 2022, with a view to continuing if there is sufficient demand.”
A Qantas spokesperson tells Executive Traveller that the Sydney-Delhi route is still considered to be "seasonal" at this stage.
Qantas' Melbourne-Delhi service will run four times a week throughout the year.
The Melbourne-Delhi flight QF69 will depart Melbourne at 9.25am every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, with a short stopover in Adelaide before heading to Delhi for a 6.10pm touchdown.
At the time of writing, the Adelaide-Delhi leg of QF69 can also be booked on its own, departing Adelaide at 11.15am – although you'll need to fly from Delhi back to Sydney or Melbourne and then catch a connecting domestic flight to Adelaide.
The QF70 return leg leaves Delhi at 7.55pm and heads straight to Melbourne to land at 1.35pm the following day.
Direct flights hold fresh appeal
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce says that as a result of the pandemic "we see more people wanting to fly direct rather than going through hubs" such as Singapore, which Qantas had previously relied upon with partner Jet Airways, which collapsed into bankruptcy in 2019.
"Qantas used to service the market into Singapore and then connect with an Indian carrier to service a range of destinations in India," Joyce reflects.
"We see ourselves now going direct to India, and we think the demand for that is going to be substantial."
24 Aug 2011
Total posts 1207
Given the need for a stop westbound on services from both MEL and SYD, I assume these services will be operated by A332s that have not had the MTOW increase that will allow A332s to operate on BNE-LAX. It must be a fairly close run thing range-wise given MEL-DEL is not possible by ADL-DEL is.
Were it not for the border restrictions, you have expected that one of these services would have operated via PER but obviously QF management have run out of patience and will operate via ADL or DRW instead.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
04 Mar 2014
Total posts 204
I dont think it would go via PER - its too far off the direct path for DEL flights
30 Jul 2015
Total posts 135
Why Adelaide? Wouldn’t Darwin be a better stopover for the flight?
Qantas
19 Apr 2012
Total posts 1429
Covo I think they can pick up more India bound passengers in Adelaide than in Darwin.
21 Aug 2019
Total posts 64
Bit like a Formula 1 pit stop. Quick splash of fuel and onwards once more
01 Apr 2014
Total posts 113
MEL-DEL direct flies almost directly overhead both ADL (and SIN), so ADL makes better sense than DRW for the stopover.
The SYD flight going via ADL instead of DRW is only about 200km extra, so nothing in it really, and probably makes sense to consolidate both flights via ADL for operational efficiencies.
17 Jun 2020
Total posts 235
Another Qantas schedule change - changing customer bookings less than one month announcing a flight with Sydney-Delhi now stopping in Adelaide. Tough luck if you booked Darwin-Delhi.
How can anyone have confidence when flights keep changing even those announced as brand new?
25 Feb 2015
Total posts 67
I get this is not a permanent schedule, nor is it a dedicated ADL service, but just putting it out there that this is the first time...in a very long time...that our national carrier will operate an international flight out of Adelaide!
28 May 2020
Total posts 11
Qantas has historically been great with route scheduling and optimization, but I'm really struggling to understand what they were thinking here. Why does the Sydney flight leave at such an inconvenient time? Cant they just push it back 2 hours ie. 805-1740, then 1955-1340 for the return. Also, why do they both stop in ADL? I assume it has something to do with range, but this is just so off putting for customers. Can't one of them stop in Perth to maximize the amount of cities that get service? I just simply do not understand what's going on here. If they MUST do a stopover they shouldn't both be the same city. Anyway, would love to hear people opinions, because I just really don't see the thought process that went behind the scheduling of these flights.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
19 Jan 2019
Total posts 2
WA border restrictions would prevent PER from being a option
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
14 Sep 2012
Total posts 382
Hey NYA, I understand that the (ADL) stop ex OZ is largely an operational based decision. Ideally non-stop both directions is the goal but right now this is the best they can do with limited aircraft.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Apr 2016
Total posts 60
Shame they don't use Darwin as a hub. Recently flew with Air Niugini to Port Moresby. The flight up only had 40 pax but the flight in to Sydney had 130. They are now adding more flights as Christmas approaches. Qantas don't start flights until April 1. Why don't they use the Alliance aircraft they have leased to do a short hop from Darwin with passengers transiting from other Australian cities. Given the short leg, the load factor could be quite low and would allow better utilisation of the aircraft.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1029
The first announcement about the Sydney flights said it was a temporary thing until around March/April. The Melbourne announcement said it was "year round". Which is it? temporary or permanent.
If it's permanent, then which route won't they be restarting?
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2561
Hi Himeno, that's a good point – so we've checked back with Qantas, which maintains that the airline's thinking on Sydney-Delhi remains the same, describing the route as being a 'seasonal' service at this time, while Melbourne-Delhi is slated to run all year round (I've updated the article to reflect this).
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
11 Oct 2014
Total posts 691
Some interesting points :
I'm not so convinced that these routes will be a 'winner' without a defined Indian partner that is capable of covering all major Indian cities .. or a possible EK tie-up. out of DEL.
Qantas
19 Apr 2012
Total posts 1429
Kimshep, there are quite a few Indian partners they can tie up with interline and possibly through ticketing. Those conversations will be underway now particularly the Melbourne year round schedule.
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
17 Oct 2014
Total posts 13
The flights are long overdue.Some years ago I went on an inspection of the baggage loading area in Melbourne in the morning.A significant portion of the baggage on the SQ flight was destined for Indian destinations.QF ignored this market for too long.
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